This probably won't work but it might be worth a try starting a thread that's specifically for issues about Europe. Mentions of US and Oz politics only allowed if they're relevant to discussions about Europe (including Russia, and Turkey, and immigration from the Middle East and Africa... nah this ain't gonna work too well...)

I'll try to kick it off with a few random thoughts re the French election result.

1. Thank God Le Pen didn't win or come closer. It would have been catastrophic, especially in France and through France to the rest of Europe.2. The fact that the major parties were rejected seems to be further proof of the growing distrust for establishment politicans in Europe these days, and is hopefully a positive thing in some ways, but a big warning sign in other ways.3. The low voting turn out (for France historically) and the number of people thinking along the lines of the old French expression "it's a choice between the plague and cholera" seems to point to a country going through some disillusionment.3. A third of the three quarters of people who voted, voted for Le Pen, and two thirds voted for Macron. If my maths is right, that means roughly half of those eligible to vote in France voted for "security" (with a young centrist EU bloke whose party is only a year old?), a quarter voted for a pretty Far Right revolutionary, and a quarter were too lazy/busy/tired/complacent to make the effort to vote. That might not be a good picture for the future, if you look at it in that simplistic way.4. When you look at the voting stats, there seems to be a divide between the educated/ uneducated, the haves/ have-nots, the open borders/ closed borders, the EU/ sovereignty supporters.5. It seems that Le Pen got a lot of votes from French people nearer the northern and eastern borders, where I'm guessing you might find more of a culture of nationalism etc because they like to distinguish themselves from their neighbours?

The candidates of the 2 traditional parties whose candidates were eliminated in the first round of the Presidential election both had specific problems apart from the general disillusion with the parties.

Fillon had major "corruption" charges hanging over him being accused of paying family members for little or non existent work and the Socialists have lust had Hollande as one of the most unpopular ever.

Maybe some (or many) of those who deserted them for those reasons may come back and that could make it very difficult for Macron.

Good piece in today's New Yorker laying out the weekend's outcomes and future questions on the realignment of not only French but much broader politics

THE HUGE CHALLENGES FACING EMMANUEL MACRON

As Emmanuel Macron and his supporters celebrated his big
victory in the French Presidential election outside the Louvre on Sunday night,
you could almost hear the sighs of relief from other parts of Europe, and also
from this country. After a long and fractious campaign, which saw the two
parties that have run France for decades humiliated, and the far-right National
Frontenjoying record levels of support, the center ultimately held. Which is
good news all around.

Last November, it looked as if Donald Trump’s election,
which followed the Brexit vote in Britain, might herald a wave of successes for
far-right nationalist parties across Europe. That hasn’t happened. First in
Austria, then in the Netherlands, and now in France, the spiritual home of
European democracy, the extremists have been defeated in national elections.
For now, at least, it looks as if Trump’s success may have marked the crest of
a right-wing wave, rather than the upsurge.

In Sunday’s election, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the
National Front, virtually doubled the share of the vote that her father,
Jean-Marie, received in the 2002 Presidential election. But she didn’t get
close to the forty per cent that she had breached in some opinion polls.
Surveys taken in the past couple of weeks indicated that Macron would win by
somewhere between twenty and twenty-five percentage points. In the event, his
margin of victory was about thirty-one percentage points—65.5 per cent to 34.5 per
cent. (This according to the French exit poll, which is much more reliable than
its American counterpart.)

The endorsements Macron received from politicians of the
center-right and center-left after he came out on top in the first round of
voting helped his cause a lot, as did the critical coverage that almost all of
the French media meted out to Le Pen. But, even allowing for these factors, the
final result represented a stirring victory for a thirty-nine-year-old former
technocrat and investment banker who had never run for office, and who only
founded his independent political movement, En Marche!, last April.

In an address at his campaign headquarters, in the Fifteenth
Arrondissement, shortly after the result was announced, Macron sought to
project an image of himself as a sober and mature leader, someone fully
prepared to enter the Élysée Palace. He also recapitulated some of the themes
of his campaign, including his defense of liberal values, his support for the
European Union, and his embrace of hope and optimism. “I will protect and
defend France’s vital interests. I will protect and defend Europe,” he
declared. He added, “It is a new page in our long history, and I want that page
to be a page of trust and hope recovered.”

After thanking the outgoing President, François Hollande,
for his services to the country, Macron said he would seek to overcome the
divisions in French society that the campaign had highlighted. His main goal,
he said, was to “calm people’s fears, restore France’s confidence, and gather
all its people together to face the immense challenges that face us.” He went
on, “I will fight against the division . . . With humility but with total
devotion and total determination, I am going to serve on your behalf. Long live
the Republic, and long live France.”

As this speech indicated, Macron is stronger on
generalizations and appeals for unity than specific policy proposals. During
the campaign, he pledged to cut government spending, reform the tax code, and
loosen up France’s rigid labor markets—all this in an effort to make the French
economy more dynamic. But he didn’t spell out many details.

On the French left, he is widely seen as the Gallic
equivalent of Tony Blair, a youthful figure intent on forcing trade unions and
workers to submit to the rigors of the global market. Skeptical conservative
politicians point out that he served in Hollande’s Socialist government for
four years, and that he promised not to scrap two pillars of the French welfare
state: the thirty-five-hour work week and the retirement age, sixty-two.

It is unclear what sort of mandate Macron will have for
carrying out his reform program. To a large extent, his first-place finish in
the first round of the election represented a rejection of the traditional
parties rather than a vigorous endorsement of his agenda. Hollande didn’t even
enter the race because he is so unpopular. The candidate of the center-right
Republican party, François Fillon, saw his campaign undone by a corruption
scandal.

Similarly, Macron’s victory in Sunday’s runoff may have
largely represented a rejection of Le Pen and the National Front, with its
record of racism, anti-Semitism, and apologies for Vichyism. According to the
exit poll, forty-three per cent of Macron’s voters cast their ballots primarily
to keep out Le Pen. Although Macron’s margin was large, turnout was low by
French standards, and many ballots were left blank. Clearly, lots of voters
didn’t like either of the choices.

Much now depends on next month’s parliamentary elections,
which will determine how much support Macron has in the National Assembly,
which makes legislation. At the moment, the Socialists and their allies have a
sizable majority. Macron’s En Marche! party is planning to field candidates in
all five hundred and seventy-seven constituencies, but it’s far from clear how
they will fare. Despite his personal victory, his centrist political movement
is still young and untested.

There is also a great deal of uncertainty about what impact
Sunday’s result will have on the future of the E.U. By removing the possibility
of a Le Pen Presidency, Macron’s victory lifted the gravest immediate threat to
the union: a deeply Euro-skeptic government taking office in Paris, to go along
with the one in London. Even before Macron arrived at the Louvre, Angela
Merkel, the German Chancellor, had called and congratulated him. “She praised
him for championing a united European Union that is open to the world,”
Merkel’s spokesman said.

But one election result doesn’t mean that the E.U., which has
just suffered through a lost decade in economic terms, can now mobilize enough
popular support to survive and prosper. Macron supports open borders, free
trade, free movement of labor, and greater efforts to accommodate refugees and
assimilate Muslim minorities—all of which are under threat. His big idea is
that, by showing that France is capable of serious internal reforms, the
country will be able to persuade Germany to shift the E.U. toward a less
austere economic policy, one more favorable to growth. Previous French
Presidents have harbored similar ambitions that went nowhere in the face of
Teutonic resistance. Can Macron do better?

But these are challenges for the future. Right now, it is
enough to celebrate the defeat of right-wing extremism and to salute the
victor. “What we have done, there is no comparison, there is no equivalent for
that,” Macron told the cheering crowd outside the Louvre. “Everyone was saying
it was impossible, but they didn’t know anything about France.” After he had
finished speaking, the President-elect clutched his hand to his heart, closed
his eyes, and led the crowd in a spirited rendition of “La Marseillaise.” Even
from afar, it was hard not to join in.

John Cassidy has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since
1995. He also writes a column about politics, economics, and more for
newyorker.com. More

<div id="" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px;"><div itemprop="article" ="article" id="article" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; : relative;"><p ="Msonormal">As Emmanuel Macron and his supporters celebrated his bigvictory in the French Presidential election outside the Louvre on Sunday night,you could almost hear the sighs of relief from other parts of Europe, and alsofrom this country. After a long and fractious campaign, which saw the twoparties that have run France for decades humiliated, and the far-right NationalFrontenjoying record levels of support, the center ultimately held. Which isgood news all around.<o:p></o:p><p ="Msonormal"><o:p> </o:p><p ="Msonormal">Last November, it looked as if Donald Trump’s election,which followed the Brexit vote in Britain, might herald a wave of successes forfar-right nationalist parties across Europe. That hasn’t happened. First inAustria, then in the Netherlands, and now in France, the spiritual home ofEuropean democracy, the extremists have been defeated in national elections.For now . . .

Macron has as much chance of forming a successful working coalition as his elderly wife has of getting pregnant. Overtaking FR, China is now GE largest trading partner and FR has dropped to 12th with the USA. Not to mention the societal problems facing FR with open borders, high unemployment, and liberal welfare programs. Countries like France, Italy, Belgium, Holland etc have historically been cowardly when faced with societal decision-making. Like the link says, the nationalist conservative movements have been stalled for now, but not stopped.

Emmanuel Macaroon is reportedly seeking counsel from Angela Merkin on how to successfully deal with the "alleged" asylum seeker problem that is currently ravaging Europe ... either that or he's getting tired of the missus, and is sniffing around for an upgrade!

Asylum seeker in Germany 'hurled a woman through a window because she refused to have sex with him'

Dawit A., 34, is accused of throwing 26-year-old woman Tirhas out of a window

Tirhas says Dawit was drinking when he threatened her with a broken bottle

Claims he told her to lie down and threw her 15ft on to concrete when she said no

Dawit wept, saying life in Germany had been 'unfair' since he arrived in 2014

Trump is a constant reminder for Europe and the world what you get with one of these so-called protest votes, and what you get when Putin wins. Germany will be the next big test for the resistance to intolerance

Emmanuel Macaroon is reportedly seeking counsel from Angela Merkin on how to successfully deal with the "alleged" asylum seeker problem that is currently ravaging Europe ... either that or he's getting tired of the missus, and is sniffing around for an upgrade!

Asylum seeker in Germany 'hurled a woman through a window because she refused to have sex with him'

Dawit A., 34, is accused of throwing 26-year-old woman Tirhas out of a window

Tirhas says Dawit was drinking when he threatened her with a broken bottle

Claims he told her to lie down and threw her 15ft on to concrete when she said no

Dawit wept, saying life in Germany had been 'unfair' since he arrived in 2014

Trump is a constant reminder for Europe and the world what you get with one of these so-called protest votes, and what you get when Putin wins. Germany will be the next big test for the resistance to intolerance

Asylum seeker in Germany 'hurled a woman through a window because she refused to have sex with him'

One act of violence against a woman is unacceptable. Lucky this is a rare cultural incident

We don't have enough windows down under.

Politeness is a thing of the past. I remember when if you pissed someone off they just showed you the door. Thank goodness this incident didn't occur in a high rise penthouse. Besides sex with someone requiring asylum is probably over rated.

Perhaps it would have read better as follows: the crowd there reminds me of Randwick, other than on five of its meetings each year and the fact the parade ring is there in front of the stands for everyone to view.

Alright how about the real issue this week. Eurovision. Seriously can not wait to see a dancing gorilla on stage. I think that is what The Voice is missing. Just get Boy George on a gorilla suit and dancing!

Woops sorry for trivialising European foibles.

Remember, it might take intelligence to be smart , but it takes experience to be wise

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